===> The Official Studio XPS 1640 Owner's Thread<===

I'm using windows 7 64-bit on my xps 16 now. Besides some bugs with the OS, everything works just great. And some softwares are not compatible with win 7 yet (Photoshop for example).

 

Cool, how has the 1640 been for you?

 

run smoothly everything I throw at it. Tried out some games, and it runs fine at native resolution. But I haven't tried it with crisis or any hardware demanding games so I cannot say for sure. The screen is perfect, it provides great colors and stuff. Not really hot when running multitask like the review, but it maybe just for me. Overall, this laptop is great for multimedia playing and everyday works.

 

Thanks for that. Do you have the 720p screen?

 

Yes, I just think that paying 250 bucks for the 1080p is just too much. =)

 

Ok, two questions:

1. I just got a Dell catalog in the mail and it has a $150 gift card promotion plastered all over it. The Studio XPS 16 page specifically mentions that it qualifies for the gift card, but I see no mention of this promo on the website. It also does not mention if the promo only pertains to certain SXPS 16 configs. Do you think I have to call my order in to get my gift card (it will pay for an extended battery!).

2. I am seriously considering getting the 256GB SSD option. The Samsung drive seems to have good specs and I am going all out on this config since I don't plan on upgrading again any time soon. Anyone bought a SXPS with that 256GB SSD option? I would be interested to hear experiences. I also hope that it will help keep the heat down, instead of dropping a 7200rpm drive in the thing (which definitely would not help the heat)!

Thanks.

 

hey guys, I just found out that the intel wireless 5100 is significantly slower than my previous intel wireless g adapter. Normally, I can download at a speed of around 700KB/s but now on this new system, my speed is dropped down to just about 100 and sometimes it just runs at 50KB/s. I tried updating the driver but it doesn't work.

 

that is very situational statement. the intel 5100 is inferior to the 5300, but not 'maxed-out-at-50kbps' inferior. the 5100 is capable 300 Mbps, your problem is probably your range.

 

My husband was bothered by the heat on the palm rest so bad that he refused to use it! I didn't have a problem with it for browsing and email. But when I decided to get into a few battles on Wow I had to switch back to my 1720 after an hour. The front edge of the laptop was super hot. The case narrows at the front and it obviously doesn't have any air flow at the edge.

If you don't keep your hand on the keyboard while gaming then it would be fine. But if you use the keys for movement in the game it might be a problem. It was for us.

On the other hand my 25 year old son doesn't mind it. He says it gets too hot for him after 2 hours but it cools back down in 10 or 15 minutes. He has a desktop for hardcore gaming so the 1640 was perfect for him.

 

Did anyone find a cool sleeve for this one yet?

 

Here we go again. Ton's of BSOD's. The cord came out of it lastnight while it was on the desk and it died. It BSOD'd 10 times before I got it to boot. This is getting really annoying. I guess I'm going to reformat it and do a fresh install of Vista.

 

What error are you getting? My first system did this and we figured out it was a bad video card. The second one gave the IRQ error twice the first day but nothing since then.

 

.
How is Youtube HD playback on your 1640s?

I haven't yet found any youtube video streaming in HD that plays smoothly on my 1640. Every HD video on youtube plays choppy.

Example, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNTj_WPDqYM (click "watch in HD" for the HD version)

 

No clue. Is there a log I can go look at? This is my first go round with Vista.

The first time it BSOD'd was after the update of the Fast Access program. This time was after it shut itself off because I left it unplugged unknowingly. I'm trying to play games and they crash to the desktop within minutes of starting. Very frustrating.

 

That plays quite choppy for me as well on my desktop which is a pretty awesome computer.

 

I'm pretty sure that it's a flash limitation, that it uses more resources than it's supposed to. Just google "flash is slow" and you'll get a ton of results.

It's weird because I can play 1080p videos from apple trailers without any problems or slowdowns

 

C:\Windows\Minidump

 

Thanks. Know anyone that can read them and tell me what they mean?

 

That could be something as simple as drivers...which is why you don't want ATi hardware in a laptop, since they don't support their mobile GPUs. I'd try a third party hack to get updated drivers on there, and also run Dell's hardware test, and memtest overnight as starting places.

 

have you tried loading the video completely and then replaying it ? - make sure you preload it all, then replay it on the Youtube site.

download the video using the keepit website or just use the FireFox plugin
to download the .flv and then play it back with Wimpy flv player ( free amazing flv player )

if you are still seeing it as choppy, then it is the computer, but even on YouTube the video is totally smooth for me.

 

Ya this video plays smoothly for me as well. No problems here.

 

I bought two (one at 90.00 US and other at the 70ish). I am willing to sell the one I bought for 90 to you, as I will be coming to Canada (Mississauga, specifically) next Friday for my spring break. Let me know, otherwise I will try to return it back or sell it on Ebay. I just hope it comes in time before next Friday.

 

Speaking of Flash, will there ever be Flash for 64 bit browsers?

 

Soon I guess

 

Greetings to all, New member here.

My config as follows:
XPS 1640, Intel Core 2 Duo T9550(2.66GHz/1066Mhz FSB/6M L2 Cache)
4GB, DDR3, 1067 MHz 2 Dimm forXPS 1640
320GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
Microsoft Windows Vista with SP1 Home Premium Edition 64-bit Edition
8X DVD+/-RW Slot Load Drive for XPS1640
Intel WiFi Link 5300 802.11AGN Half Mini Card

order placed Feb 23,2009
estimate ship date March 03,2009
Currently in "production" stage

Total Damage $1,500.60 Shipped

Here is the funny thing. When i placed my order and i got my confirmation email - they immediately withdrew my funds. (im thinking sweet! no "illegal config") well yesterday i notice that the money was put back into my bank but the funny thing is that there isn't nay transaction info - no "dell refund" or "return" or cancelation info... i check on the status of my laptop online and through the phone and it says in "currently production"

what are the possibilities of receiving an email from dell saying my order was canceled ? or maybe the fund transaction was temporary so that they could begin building and charge later? i dont know but its fustrating. any thoughts?

 

Were you running W7?

 

No, this was 5 minutes out of the box. It's my 2nd SXPS because my 1st one died within 6 days. It's starting to get old, I think I may just get my money back and throw another 700 out and get a Mac.

 

mine did this too. they didnt withdraw the money when i placed the order, they just probed to see if it was there. the didnt bill actually bill me until almost a week after i received it.

 

Man, this is really disappointing. Seems like to many people are having problems with this system. When I get mine in a week if it doesn't work, I'm getting a full refund.

 

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtools/debugging/default.mspx

- download and install WinDBG
- run WinDBG
- go to File, Open Crash Dump, navigate to the minimdump you want to open.
- the article describes giving the symbol path on the command line, but you
can also specify the symbol path in the GUI, by going File, Symbol File
Path, and entering the same command-line syntax
- once you have the dump file loaded and the symbol path set, run the
command "!analyze -v"

 

wow, good to know, as long as they don't wait 2weeks to send me an "illegal config" email like others in the forum. I was excited when they withdrew their funds on demand, now it has to sit there stairing at me like -yo im an extra $1500 in your account waiting to be spent ;-)

Thanks metroline

 

I'm dealing with one of the Dell Customer Advocates right now. I've sent a few lengthy e-mails expressing my concerns, they seem to be receptive but I'm just not completely sold yet. I love this rig as far as hardware goes and I'm not dumb when it comes to computers, I build all my own towers, but I wanted something out of the box that I didn't have to worry about. So far, it's been far from that.

It says that I need to analyze the files with the 64bit Software, but I'm at work right now and I have XP here. I have the dump files here but I guess I'll have to give it a whirl when I get home.

 

I've had my SXPS 16 about 5 days; got it from Best Buy. Let me say it is quite impressive. However I have had a couple of instances where Windows failed to start up; System Restore fixed the problem each time. I think the problem may be with the Facial Recognition because it happens after activating the software. Works fine until I try to restart. After the system restore, the facial recognition has been deactivated and everything seems to work fine.


Anyone else have this problem or know a fix? Sorry if this has been addressed but this is quite a lengthy thread.

 

So that facial recognition requires online 'activation'? I'm wondering if it's storing DRM info in the boot sector of the drive-that would explain why it's corrupting your Windows install, and then it's unactivated when you fix Windows.

 

I just got my 2nd computer yesterday and it blue screened immediately after updating Fast Access. I'm in the process of dealing with a Dell representative as we speak. We'll see how it goes.

 

no, he means activating as in turning it on

 

id uninstall it, run your windows updates if there are any, and then reinstall. you need to download it from the dell media site. so install it, then configure your login profile, reboot and login, and then update it

 

What are you guys doing that's causing your laptops to bluescreen to much?

I've had my SXPS for 7 days now and it hasn't BSOD'd once. And I'm pretty sure I'm not the only case without any BSODs.

 

Letting it update programs it asks to.

The only software I have on it that didn't come preloaded right now is Google Chrome and Steam. It bluescreened before I installed either of them.

 

Mine didn't either. It HAS to be either defective hardware or bad drivers on some piece of hardware I didn't have. Otherwise, you don't get random crashes from Windows update or the like.

 

VRM you said you got yours from best buy couple days ago?
Instore? I thought you can only order it from best buy "online" and they sold out along time ago and havn't restock.

I originally was gonna get the Best Buy version but was soldout before I got the money.

 

Well, it's not anything that I'm doing, I can assure you that. The first computer that died was because of an update gone bad for PowerDVD. Do you have the BluRay drive on yours?

 

Yeah, though Dell could never ship me Blu Ray playback software (after multiple attempts).

It's got to be either a hardware fault, or horrible drivers though. I mean some people on here seem to think that you can just arbitrarily get crashes. And with Windows NT that just doesn't happen-there HAS to be some concrete reason it's occuring (and obviously it's got to be something Dell is doing wrong if it's on brand new hardware!)

 

computers dont die from 'bad updates', if it is bad hardware than its bad hardware. if its bad software then you could just format. if the drive went the power dvd software didnt cause its failure. when doing upgrades and installations, frequent rebooting is your best friend.

run the dell diagnostics at start up, rule out bad memory and hardware. if everything is ok, id suggest you stop grinding the clutch, and focus on one program at a time. do the vista updates, if everything is smooth after rebooting, run the software updates, and then if thats smooth, do the games and steam troubleshooting, isolate your problem and you wont be left holding your head.

can you paste your specs?

 

I had the same problem. They tried to charge me $69 for the disk. I have it, my 2nd computer didn't come with it, so I kept it. I don't understand how you can not send a piece of software that is critical to the BluRay player working. I totally agree though and I told the Dell representatives the same. The computer was released before enough testing was done. There are software conflicts abound.

 

Hey - I'm willing to buy it off of you.

Please email me - [email protected] - and we can chat further.

Thanks!

 

OK, I made it up, it never happened. I tried to update the BluRay software, PowerDVD, because it wouldn't play BluRays. When I did, it locked up the PC for 10 minutes before I did a cold shut down. After the cold shut down, I couldn't even boot to a CD unless I disabled the HDD. Coincidence? Maybe.

We did all the Dell diagnostics and everything came up OK, even the HDD. Grinding the clutch? Are you serious? The thing BSOD'd the moment it came out of the box without me installing a thing. How is that grinding the clutch? I'm no moron, I have been building my own PC's for years, I just decided I wanted one out of the box that worked that had a few nice options, apparently that was my mistake.

My specs are below in my sig.

 

By the way vishank...

Do you live in Canada? If so, how did you buy the 9-cell? Can't seem to find it on the dell.ca website...

 

Yikes, so you actually bought software? They at least tried shipping me the right software...of course it was wrong TWICE and was just the worthless software I already had.

Geez.

My current laptop unfortunately doesn't have Blu Ray (and I'm not sure if one of those internal Sony drives would fit or not). I tried adding a Lite On external drive, but the drive was defective-it would randomly quit seeing a disc. So...yay.

At least the (outdated) version of PowerDVD that drive included seemed to work just fine, other than for some reason having to switch to the basic GUI while running (a switch that happens automatically and which WinDVD also has to do).

 

Hell no I didn't pay for it.

They hung up on me because I refused to, finally I got a "North American" Tech on the phone that sent it to me.


BTW, here is the latest e-mail from the "Customer Advocate".

Mr. Kelly, we value you as a customer and your satisfaction is our highest priority. I have gone through your records and would like to inform you that our multiple email attempts to resolve the issue have not been helpful in this instance and as per your email the issue requires advanced troubleshooting hence I will need to direct you to one of the several options available.

Please do contact our free online Live Hardware Warranty Support by going to http://support.dell.com/chat , alternatively you can get in touch with Hardware Support by phone at 1-800-232-8544, please use your express service code when prompted. This will route you to the correct support team and will avoid the need to be transferred and further delays in service. If you need to continue support via e-mail, simply reply to this e-mail.

You could get better assistance over voice and chat support. Email support has limited support resources. I am sure that teh issue gets fixed for once and all over chat or voice support.

You can't chat about our computers, it says they aren't supported in chat yet.